Hydrocodone....

Is there a long acting form of Hydrocodone? I currently take (3-4) 5/500 Vicoden per day but the pain is like a roller coaster all day. I feel good for about 1 hour total between doses. Thanks so much!

no, unfortunetly that one has not been made into an LA form. heck, you cannot even get an actual hydro type of prep that just does not actually contain the dreaded tylenol either. the one possible thing you can do tho is talk to your doc about trying the LA form of oxycodone, oxycontin? this works very well for me and i have now been on it sicne late 2003. this would be the closest to hydro and considering the way you are having to actually take the hydro, would at least take away those ups and downs with your overall coverage. just a suggestion for you that works better for me when i was only taking short acting meds before my spinal cord surgery. after that i most definitely started needing the long acting oxycontin just to cover the actual pain that DOES actually respond to narcotics.

just discuss the need for better coverage that does not leave big down "gaps" in your overall coverage with your Rxing doc. good luck, marcia

Thanks Marcia! Last I heard from you was on the "Back Board" ! Hope you are doing well.
The Vicoden works for me and doesn't make me a COMPLETE babbling idiot like most pain meds. It is just the inconsistent pain relief that bothers me. I am very sensitive to all medications, I usually use pediatric doses. Did you actually make a switch from Vicoden to oxycontin? Did you tolerate it OK? Did you have to go through a long adjustment period? I have seen others on the board talk about how they are completely different meds so I am a little nervous about trying it.....but I am so ready for consistent pain relief. I have just recently (after 2 1/2 years) wrapped my head around the fact that I am a chronic pain patient and that barring some miraculous medical miracle, I will be on meds for the rest of my life. Thanks for your input.

I seem to remember someone posting back a few months that one of the manufacturers was working on a long acting form of hydrocodone. I've got no idea whether it is even close to being available or even if they are still working on it. Maybe if your doctor agreed, a compounding pharmacy could come up with something?

If not maybe you could try a very low dose of one of the other LA meds. I was very nervous trying MS Contin, I was once given morphine in the hospital and hallucinated - not fun. I'm on the lowest dose of MS Contin with no problems. Because only a tiny bit is released at a time there are none of the side effects, or goofy feelings you can get with a SA medication.

IMO, all the pain maed have the same "peaks and valleys" syndrome. Even now with the Oxycontin, I olen get really good pain reflief from 45 minutes after I take it to about the 4 hour mark and that's only if I take 1/2 of a 10/325 Oxycodone at the 2 hour mark. It is because of how quickly our bodies build up tolerences to the drugs.

But none that I have tried have a shorter window of pain relief than the Vicodin. I had similar results of about an hour to an hour and a 1/2 of pain relief.

Talk to your doctor. Tell him of the highs and lows. With me, it was all about getting the right "background" dose (that's what I call it), the amount needed in your bloodstream at all times to "take the edge off". Then I try to take by break through meds at those times when I feel a drop off in the pain relief. It took 2 years to get to the right combination.
Although I'd rather find another alternative than the heavy narcotics, this at least makes life liveable. Good luck.

The only long acting hydrodcodone product I'm aware of is Tussionex liquid. It's marketed as a cough med. It lasts 12 hours and has an antihistimine in it. Any 100% hydrodcodone product would be a CII, per the schedule of drugs guidelines.

Some people do use this as a pain reliever...Off label of course, but then again, Docs write off label every day.

Like Tigger, I read something about this a while back, but haven't heard anything since. I would imagine with all the scrutiny right now, the FDA would highly regulate a hydro only med. Any "new" narcotic med being approved currently must demonstrate how the manufacturer plans on fighting abuse and precautions they are taking. The translation is that these new meds are having to undergo more scrutiny than their existing counterparts.

I was on oxycodone 10/325 prior to my SI joint surgery...it worked pretty well for me, except for the peaks and valleys....after my surgery I was on the oxycodone 10/325 every 4 hrs...and the 20 mg. oxycontin every 6 hrs....I felt pretty good...very little pain....
Now that I have discovered that the SI joint pain I am still having is from my unfused SI joint...well, the Dr. put me on Hydrocodone 10/325....which really does not do it for me....it kind of takes the pain down a bit....but doesn't make me feel that much better... I know the oxycodone works better for me. But, it still have the peaks and valleys...but I do feel less pain in between.
Sage

Thanks to everyone....I understand that it may take quite a while before we find the right combo for me. To make matters worse, my appt with my doc was the first week of October and they called and moved it to the middle of November She will be OOT....she is very hard to get an appt with so I guess I just wait. I was looking forward to making some medication adjustments soon. Thanks!

5/500 Vicodin isnt an especialy strong analgesic - You may find that the long acting form of tramadol gives you equivalent pain releif, there are preperations avaliable now that you only need to take once a day.

This contains no acetaminophen or ibuprofen, so you would also be able to occasionaly take either of those if the pain spiked through the tramadol.

Is there a long acting form of Hydrocodone? I currently take (3-4) 5/500 Vicoden per day but the pain is like a roller coaster all day. I feel good for about 1 hour total between doses. Thanks so much!

Deb

When I first started taking vicodin I was on 5/500 and that didn't work so I was jumped up to 750mg and again still wasn't cutting it, so they tried a medication that some didn't know existed it was "Vicoprofen 7.5/200" that helped a little better beings it had the combination of Motrin instead of the basic Tylenol as vicodin did...but pain was breaking through and I was placed on a pain patch called "Duragesic patch" I was slowly moved up but started on 25mg and now presently on 75mg...It did for some time balance the pain very well in between my regular pain meds of vicoprofen.....Its now been years and I don't get that same relief, but in the beginning I was getting a lot of relief to do my daily functioning....So maybe just a combination of medication might help the roller-coaster of the ups and downs of pain breakthroughs....I wish you the best..